For many years, intravenous (I.V.) solutions have been administered in a fairly simple fashion with a bottle or bag of solution hanging from a pole on a simple tripod base stand. Such solutions were traditionally administered in hospitals and there was little, if any, need for transport of such stands and other associated equipment. Recently, several advances in medicine have rendered such equipment obsolete. In particular, the development of infusion pumps has allowed the very precise control of the rate and amounts of administration of I.V. solution to the patient. While such pumps are portable in the broadest sense, they remain heavier than the traditional equipment associated with I.V. administration. In particular, in recent years home parenteral nutrition (HPN) has allowed effective treatment of patients with inadequate digestive systems due to accidents or disease. In particular, HPN is the administration of all required nutrients through a catheter into the bloodstream thereby bypassing the patient's regular digestive system. HPN, then, has allowed the treatment of a number of patients to be accomplished at home without requiring the institutionalization of such patients as was formerly the case.
The spread of the use of I.V. equipment to the home has rendered existing I.V. stands inadequate for several reasons. In the home, the patient is often reasonably ambulatory and thus, it will be highly desirable to transport the infusion pump and/or associated equipment with the patient about the house. Homes typically have various irregular surfaces which are not easily accommodated by conventional I.V. stands. In particular, such surfaces are stairs, carpets and any other surfaces which are not typical in an institutional setting.
Mobile equipment stands have numerous applications not related to the supply of intravenous fluids. For example, other medical conditions require the supply of various substances, such as oxygen, to the patient on a more or less continuous basis. Such substances may be typically stored in pressurized containers, usually of a cylindrical design. Due to the unique shape of the containers, and the fact that oxygen users are not likely to also require supplies of intravenous fluid, stands designed to facilitate oxygen transport have necessarily been dedicated to that exclusive use. Thus, the supply of oxygen and the supply of I.V. fluids constitute two separate needs which have not heretofore been merged into a single, covertible mobile equipment stand.
Previous stands have not proven effective due to their generally small wheels as well as their extreme susceptibility to tipping, especially when heavier loads such as those of infusion pumps or cylindrical tanks are placed upon a stand.
The present invention addresses these problems by providing an I.V. stand which is easily capable of accommodating infusion pumps and other modern I.V. equipment. Another aspect of this invention is to provide an I.V. stand which rolls smoothly, easily and stably over irregular surfaces such as carpet and which is capable also of being stably transported up and down stairs by the patient or others. A removable support platform is provided which easily accommodates the mounting of cylindrical tanks, thereby permitting ready conversion of the stand for multiple applications. This invention provides a device which accomplishes substantial improvements in mobile stand technology using simple materials and manufacturing techniques.